Bland NPCs. How will they save a doomed plot?

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Originally Posted by Majidah

Haven't seen this, what quest?

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There might be blood
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POUeomqDzkE

But it's a sidequest, not a GC quest.

I tend to lean towards agreeing as far as particularly exciting characters tied up in the main plot. On the other hand, there is Cid and he's a decent character so far.

I also have to whole-heatedly disagree on the note of Villains. FFXI had some decent villains at times, but it never had the oppressive, evil-looking-armor-wearing Empire that one basically expects of a high-fantasy era Final Fantasy.

I just hope they kick the Empire into overdrive with 2.0. In terms of content, ( I want to fight them more often. ) But more importantly, in terms of presentation. If I see one more dunce running around in an Acton claiming to be an imperial soldier I'll drop meteor on Eorzea myself.

In 2.0 I want to see all normal imperial soldiers sporting armor a la the current centurions, with variations based on their roles in battle (see imperial troops in FFXII, seeing as we have the same art director... not sure how he allowed this to happen!) Here's to hoping the morons in cloth armor are just Ala'Mihgan conscripts, and are replaced in the near future with properly armored imperials.

Also, Imperial March. We need a better one. Sorry big N try again.

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Originally Posted by KiriA500

This interview was clearly done before Hildibrand was added...!

<3

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Sub characters can be as memorable, if not more, than main story characters. Even ones with just simple gimmicks. Yeah, Hildibrand is not going away, but I hope he's not the only sub character built upon in any way, shape or form. It'd be harder to introduce such characters due to the lack of structure to support them, but I can only hope it is possible.

That being said, I agree with Altanas. The Path of the Twelve is a dull part of the story, the rules take the fun out of having such a power, and Thancred should really play on the kind of trouble classic bards are known to get into. May take away from the heroics, but it would give the character some depth.

GC leaders are great but not around unless you're in a few cs's =(

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Originally Posted by Felis

There might be blood
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POUeomqDzkE

But it's a sidequest, not a GC quest.

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Best CS in the game right here

The GC leaders will be used a lot more in the future, that's pretty certain. The main reason various NPCs aren't memorable is simply because you don't see them enough. Of course, if FFXI wasn't as messed up at launch as it was, we might be visiting new places and seeing more of the main story characters than we are now. Most of the dev team focus is on 2.0, so we're not going to see a lot of change until that hits.

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Originally Posted by KiriA500

This interview was clearly done before Hildibrand was added...!

http://cloud.steampowered.com/ugc/59...DA7CD89DE81C1/

<3

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LOL yeah, it was; in fact I think Hildibrand was the first step to fix this, I believe

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Originally Posted by Altanas

And the Path of The Twelve lady has to be the blandest NPC in any RPG. She doesnt even have a unique model. Further the whole concept of the Path of the Twelve with all their rules make the whole concept of the Echo seem dull. Whats the point of having such a power if we cant abuse it. What is the point of this faction? It seems wholly unncessary.

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I've been secretly hoping that the blondie is actually this evil mastermind. I mean, she can't be THAT bland. There MUST be a reason. I HOPE.

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Originally Posted by Majidah

LOL yeah, it was; in fact I think Hildibrand was the first step to fix this, I believe

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What I'm hoping for is a breakdown between parody characters, non-serious characters and recurring characters with one of the former two as a foundation.

An example (pardon for mentioning WoW) would be Hemet Nesingwary, the big game hunter that's a reference to Ernest Hemingway that has had questlines devoted to his way to life in 3 of the 4 WoW expansions. Another (and more recent) example would be Mylune, a dryad that's obsessed with the protection of cute and fuzzy animals. Both of them are memorable characters, despite being tertiary characters (in the case of Mylune, she's a daily quest-giver). Neither saved the world, but are remembered.

It's been a while since I've looked over the main plot but if we're discussing the rebel characters, least I think they're rebels, then I think the way they are represented is perfect considering the situation. If I'm not mistaken they are trying to get the 3 nations to work together but they are also trying to remain hidden so they don't draw attention from the empire. If it was let out that they were a group of rebels then the empire may threaten the nation unless they turned them over so for them to remain mundane is perfect for the situation. As the story progresses and the threat begins to crumble then perhaps they can begin to have more larger then life personalities but they are trying to act serious considering the situation at hand.